casablanca cuban grill

the food was pretty good and was just fun and new to try. if you stick to getting pork,riceand beans, you won't be disappointed and you have to try the plantains! service was fine but slow and will probably come back again when i'm feeling like something different to try.

puerco asada. succulent roast pork, black beans,riceand yucca. a must for a traditional cuban dinner.

if you have never had cuban food, you can rest assured that this place is authentic. don't try to compare it with mecican food -- it is cuban. both the beef and the pork dishes are excellent! i love fried plantains, but the ones here are average. you will want to salt them as they are served unseasoned. the black beans andriceis excellent. not sure you would like cuban food? cuban is meat and potatoes with a flair. the seasoning is always very balanced (or is supposed to be) and seldom real spicy. remember, this is not mexican... no chips and salsa here. just good solid cuban food.

between meh and not good. the servers were friendly. the menu said all items come with a beanriceoption, plantains or yucca and mixed salad. we were asked which bean option we wanted but not which others. i was given plantains and my husband got the yucca. no salad anywhere. my shrimp was good but the menu purported that it could be prepared mild or spicy but since i wasn't asked which i would prefer i think i got mild... my husbands fish was over cooked and the sauce it was in was cold. i was expecting quite a lot better based on other reviews.

got online to find cuban recipes because.... my best friend took me to this restaurant yesterday for lunch and i am thrilled! when we walked in, we recieved a very authentic hello welcome from a lady carrying a baby across the room...which immediately gave me the feeling of "welcome home, make yourself comfortable!" before we even sat down, the second thing i noticed was the cleanliness of the place! i mean, it was very homey, but i swear it shined of clean! the third thing i noticed was the incredible aroma of the food. it rarely gets better than that. i was new to the cuban menu so my friend ordered for us, and we shared two entrees...one chicken with a side ofriceand black beans and fried plantains (which reminded me of when my dear mother used to cook them when i was little... oh yummy!) and the other meal was a ground beef dish with a side of whitericeand black bean soup. then there was the yucca... yucca for me- yumma for others. everything else was nothing short of spectacular! even the whitericewas special. the service was incredibly friendly and i really felt appreciated. this is a restaurant that i hope you will all try out so that it will live long and prosper...don't let this place come and go undiscovered! it's the kind of place boise needs, hope to see you there!

simple = flavorless?. confession: i'd never had cuban food before trying this place. if my expectation of highly-seasoned/spiced dishes was due to my lack of understanding of cuban food, then i am to blame. but this was the most boring, un-seasoned, spirit-less cuisine i've had in a long time. my wife's beef and potato dish tasted slightly less flavorful than dinty moore canned beef stew. my cuban-fried chicken special paled in comparison to even the simplest supermarket roast chicken. i've had black beans from a can that were more exciting, and thericecould have used even a dash of salt -- anything to bring it above uncle ben's. the biggest mistake we made was hoping the ham croquettes appetizer would compare even slightly to the amazing croquettes at bar gernika. in fact, the most exciting thing in them were bits of gristle that required unceremoniously spitting out. boring boring boring.

married to a cuban.. i am so pleased that a cuban restaurant came to boise. i went there today and i'm going back! i ordered the picadillo dish, with the accompaniments ofriceand black bean soup and the maduros, or sweet plantains fried, and a salad. i was pleased with the picadillo, though i would have liked a few more green olives, so i cut the two i had up and that mixed the flavor through the bites. i decided that for the toned down lunch menu two was enough. the black beans were very plain. i was surprised because the picture for the groupon shows the black bean soup with chopped red and yellow peppers on top. i don't think there was any flavoring in the beans except the salt. i wonder why they don't put their brand of sofrito in their beans? my cuban relatives always add at a minimum: onion, garlic, bell pepper, oregano plus their own unique touch. the mexican restaurants don't get the flavoring for black beans so i always order the pinto beans there because they are flavored, but i expected a cuban restaurant to flavor the black beans! i'll go back, i love cuban food! the picadillo was good, thericeand beans had the perfect texture and the maduros were a sweet memory of my mother in laws cooking, the service was friendly. i recommend you give them a try.

this restaurant is wonderful! everything tasted like it was homemade from scratch. the black beans were delicious, porky, and unctuous; the roasted pork (puerco asado) was tender and very flavorful. even the plain whitericetasted like it had been made with tlc (possibly in the form of what tasted like homemade stock)! if you have never had cuban food, try it from here. if you already love cuban cuisine, you have a new favorite restaurant!